Opportunity Mapping: A Conceptual Analysis and Application to the Baltimore Metropolitan Area

April 21, 2014 10:00 AM

With encouragement and assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, many local governments and metropolitan coalitions are mapping opportunity to inform the development of regional sustainable communities plans. In this week's Online Paper Collection featured work, authors Chao Liu, Eli Knaap, and Gerrit-Jan Knaap, from the University of Maryland, examine the notion that the neighborhood in which a person lives shapes their social and economic opportunities is not new, but how opportunity is to be measured, displayed, and used to guide policy decision making remains under examined.

In this paper, the authors conduct an examination using data from the Baltimore metropolitan area, specifically the conceptual foundations and standard analysis framework of opportunity mapping developed by the Kirwan Institute. The results are presented from an opportunity mapping analysis conducted in the Balitmore region as part of a regional Sustainability Planning effort.